


A Simple Twist of Fate

by captainandersmith



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Mistletoe, the angst is just matt being silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 23:18:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9146437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainandersmith/pseuds/captainandersmith
Summary: With mistletoe, pushy bosses, and oblivious boys... it's a Jerematt Christmas fic!





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about the teensy bit of angst you can blame the music of Bob Dylan in this instance
> 
> I was requested on tumblr to write Jerematt+mistletoe so here you go!
> 
> (I am uploading a Christmas fic in January because... uh,,,)

If you were at the RT Christmas party and you happened to go outside, you might wonder why Matt was sat out there all by himself.

You might also wonder why he looked like someone had just kicked his cat, or that he had been told that donuts were now illegal, or something equally terrible.

In short, Matt was fucked.

The long explanation involves the events that transpired inside the party, but actually begins long before that day.

It does begin with Roosterteeth though.

 

It starts as innocuously as it could have, Matt is trawling through youtube one night when he finds a series called Red vs. Blue. He's drawn in by the interesting use of Halo characters and after a couple of episodes he's hooked.

One day he ventures to other videos on the channel, there are funny shorts but it's the videogame related videos that catch his eye.

Sure enough, this leads him to a channel called Let's Play, and a group of guys called Achievement Hunter.

Matt guesses that this is partly to blame for his current dismal state of affairs. If they hadn't made him laugh so much, if there hadn't been a community that inspired Matt to contribute his own videos, none of this would have happened.

But this on it's own wouldn't have been enough to cement his downfall. It was a message that he received one day.

**Jerem6401** : Hey Axialmatt! Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your videos :)

Matt recognised the username so he decided to reply. One message turned into two, turned into twenty, turned into an endless stream of rambling about videogames and RT videos. He soon learnt that Jerem6401 was Jeremy Dooley from Boston and he was a funny and likeable dude.

Matt had never had a friendship this easy, and it was great to have someone to bounce video ideas off of. He felt almost proud when Jeremy started making his own videos and brought up the idea of making a few together.

As their friendship developed there was no possibility of them meeting up in person since a 14 hour drive was out of the question and neither had the money for plane tickets. Skype was the closest interaction that they could manage.

But even then, from the very first Skype call, Matt should have seen the signs.

Because hearing Jeremy's “hey buddy!” for real eclipsed any text conversation that they'd had and his features animated by speech couldn't possibly be captured in any photograph. How could someone's laugh be both warm and exciting at the same time? They didn't talk about anything special but Matt could feel himself smiling the entire time.

And when he said goodbye and closed his laptop, Matt's room suddenly felt impossibly empty. He got ready for bed but every task seemed to drag endlessly and pointlessly, and when he lay down, sleep evaded him completely.

Yes, that should have been the first sign.

 

But no. The first sign of his unshakable fate that Matt wasn't completely blind to came many months later, when he met Jeremy in person for the first time.

It was pretty strange really, calling someone your ‘best friend’ when you hadn't actually physically mer. Well, most people seemed to think it was strange. To Matt and Jeremy the label came naturally.

Still, Matt couldn't help but worry that something would be different. That they would meet and everything they'd built over the past months would be shattered. The idea that it could be awkward all of a sudden terrified Matt.

He was only half right.

When the distance finally closed between them it was at Austin airport for their first RTX as friends and community members.

Matt felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Jeremy.

In that instant, something jolted. Everything shifted an inch, it was almost imperceptible. 

But not to Matt.

With all the commotion of people brushing past his shoulders, the racket of clattering suitcase wheels, Matt was sure that he had never felt so utterly alone in his life.

And he wished (oh  _ god _ did he fucking wish), that something,  _ anything _ , could have been different. So that he wouldn't be standing here, looking at  _ him _ , feeling so damn lonely.

At that moment, he’d have given anything to avoid that simple twist of fate.  
  


 

Now there's a lot that happened in between that day and the one where Matt sits alone at a Christmas party (including a lot which Matt would rather forget). As he sits in the cool night air, he condenses those months, years into a summary of events.

Getting hired at RT. Wonderful.

Working with his best friend. Wonderful.

Being paid every day for doing something he enjoys, something he'd do as a hobby anyway. Wonderful.

Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful.

But each dash of wonderful came with a dash of pain.

Having to face his feelings for Jeremy every single day. Horrible.

Smiling through jokes about the two of them being a couple. Agonising.

Being Jeremy's friend but wanting desperately to kiss him. Hugging him and letting go far sooner than he wanted to. Watching his fucking glorious laugh and trying not to implode. Heartbreaking.

But it wasn't all bad, in fact, Matt was willing to put all of that aside to keep Jeremy as his friend.

_ Yes _ , put it aside. Because there was no way he was ever going to tell Jeremy about it, despite the best efforts of his boss.

His boss, who had almost blown the whole thing by paying them to kiss at extra life.

That took… a while to get over.

Despite all that, it was fine. Everything was fine.

He got up, went to work, and despite the slight heartache, thoroughly enjoyed his life.

Except for today. Today wasn't great.

 

Even before the events of the party Matt hadn't been feeling great. It was one of those days where he questioned what the hell he was doing, felt like he was living a lie and was generally just having a massive pity party.

Hence why he hadn't been getting smashed like the others at the Christmas party, despite the fact that Jeremy had offered to drive him home so he could drink.

But of course Jeremy wasn't holding it against him because he was too fucking nice wasn't he.

Anyway, the full explanation of Matt's current state comes in the form of Lindsay Jones. Matt had been chatting aimlessly with Joel in the kitchen until she began herding him out of the room claiming that Achievement Hunter were having a group photo.

At least that's what Matt thinks she said, she'd stopped being intelligible at least an hour ago.

As he went through another doorway, the pushing stopped. Mainly because he had been pushed into someone else. Jeremy.

“Sorry pal!” Jeremy apologised, grabbing Matt’s shoulder to steady them both.

“Nah no worries”

Matt attempted to back up but the way was blocked by a grinning Lindsay and Jeremy seemed to be having the same altercation with Geoff. The offending party just crossed their arms and smirked, making no move to explain what they were trying to achieve.

“Uh guys?” A cold feeling settled in Matt’s stomach. Whatever they had planned, it probably wasn’t good.

“Mistletoe!” Gavin slurred, draping himself over Geoff’s shoulder, “you guys have, you guys have gotta kiss now!”

Jeremy winced slightly and shot Matt an apologetic look, “Come on guys-”

“Nope!” Lindsay interrupted, “It’s a Chrisssman tradition!”

Matt sighed, desperate to leave the situation before he turned purple with embarrassment, “Right, fine” he said tersely.

He leant down and gave Jeremy a swift peck on the side of the mouth, “There, happy?”

Gavin groaned, “Awww come on Axialmatt! You can do better than that! Give ‘im a proper one”

And before Matt could protest that mistletoe rules in no way demanded that the recipient be given “a proper one”, Jeremy was holding his face and pulling him down towards him.

Matt barely registered what came next because Jeremy was so close and it was all a bit too much like deja vu and Jeremy’s mouth on his wasn’t the only thing that made it hard to breathe and-

 

And here he was outside. Moping alone at a Christmas party because his best friend just kissed him and everything was a bit too loud and a bit too much and he just needs to breathe.

Of course he loved Jeremy as a friend first and foremost. He was hilarious and thoughtful and so damn kind. If only he wasn’t such a charming and handsome motherfucker.

Just as he felt he was composed enough to go back inside, Jeremy sat down on the step next to him.

“We seem to be making a habit of this don’t we?” he joked, staring straight out into the night air.

“What? Kissing in front of our friends and co workers?” Matt quipped back, surprised that he didn’t choke on his words.

Jeremy chuckled at that, (oh god why was his laugh so pretty) “Well, yeah kind of, although I’d say that has a lot more to do with Geoff’s habits than ours…I was more thinking of the uh... the running away afterwards”

A faint cheer came from inside as the song changed over.

“I… I don’t know what to say to that Jeremy” Matt’s voice faltered and he started picking at his shoelaces.

“Right um, sorry”

The silence that followed was excruciating, but Matt didn’t trust himself to break it.

“Oh hell Matt, I…”Jeremy turned to face him, looking strangely troubled and exhausted, “If I… if I’m getting this wrong, just stop me yeah? Just stop me and I’ll… I’ll go back inside and… yeah”

Jeremy leant in and kissed him. The earth turned a little more, the cold air moulded around them. The minute gaps around their friendship where the bitter chill had crept in were being patched up with something new.

They pulled away and looked at each other, hardly waiting a second before bubbling over with laughter.

“You’re still here” Jeremy smirked.

“So are you”

“So… what do we do now?”

“I think we should be making up for bad habits, we can figure out the rest later” Matt shifted closer to Jeremy, linking their hands together.

“Sounds like a plan. Oh wait, hang on…” Jeremy fumbled around in his jacket pocket before revealing a rather dejected looking piece of mistletoe and winked at Matt, “You still owe me a proper kiss from earlier”

“Oh alright then you soppy bastard”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! <3  
> hope you had a lovely holiday season my dudes
> 
> tumblr is captainandersmith


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